Scenarios of high tension and crisis between De Zerbi and Marseille after the heavy defeat last Saturday against Reims.
That was Marseille's third consecutive and the fourth in the last five matches, which allowed Monaco to overtake them in the standings, moving into second place, ahead of the team coached by Roberto De Zerbi. With 7 matches remaining in Ligue 1 and a spot in next season’s Champions League still to be secured, the situation around the former Sassuolo and Brighton coach is becoming increasingly tense.
This is also due to the latest intense confrontation with his dressing room, which risks undermining the end of the season and the pursuit of the goal that the club deems essential, both for prestige and economic reasons.
De Zerbi Against Everyone at Marseille?
The Italian coach had harshly criticized the attitude of his players, as pointed out by Milannews.it. In fact, he highlighted serious mental limits and threatening punitive measures against them: "If I never see my family, it will be the same for you," he allegedly said to justify a potential indefinite closed training camp. However, according to French news outlet L'Equipe's, the atmosphere became even more heated as the days went by, and rather spicy details are revealed, particularly concerning Monday, the day when the resumption of training was scheduled at Commanderie, the OM sports center.
According to the well-known French daily, De Zerbi confronted his group of players, explaining that, in light of the “unworthy” attitude shown against Reims, he would not train them. In response, the players decided not to wear their football boots, refusing to take the field. A highly tense situation that forced sporting director Benatia to take control: the Moroccan executive allegedly stayed in the locker room for about an hour to mediate with Greenwood (one of the players most criticized by De Zerbi in recent weeks) and his teammates, but also reprimanding them for their poor performance in the last league match.
Also according to L'Equipe, there was another episode of tension and a tough face-off between Roberto De Zerbi and Pol Lirola, the Spanish defender with a past in Italy (Juventus, Sassuolo, Fiorentina, and Frosinone, among others). Surprised laughing in the dining hall, at a time evidently deemed inappropriate to show such serenity, the Italian coach allegedly launched an attack: “Do you want to make me fail? Then we’ll all fail together. No one at the club wanted you here last summer, I was the only one who believed in you. And this would be your reward?”
A series of crises and a moment of severe turmoil are gripping De Zerbi and his Marseille, still fighting for a Champions League spot, with a future that might see a new chapter in De Zerbi’s career.
